NEW YORK - His first shot, of the stop-and-pop variety, arced over the outstretched fingertips of defenders invading his personal space, and then splashed through the Brooklyn net. The scoreboard added a pair to UCLA's total, and freshman Shabazz Muhammad ran back to play defense, having finally tallied the first points of his college career. But his long-awaited debut Monday - delayed three games because the NCAA sat him out for violating its rules before it reinstated him Friday - didn't end in storybook fashion.

Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions hasn't worked on a fight of substance with his former promoter and on-again, off-again rival, Bob Arum of Top Rank Promotions, in five years. But De La Hoya, declaring himself “back and better than ever” as the president of Golden Boy, told The Times on Tuesday that he recently engaged Arum in conversation about ending boxing's cold war that has blocked several attractive fights from happening. One fight that De La Hoya says he's interested in pursuing is a super-bout between Arum's star fighter, Manny Pacquiao, and Golden Boy's top star, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

This time, defense alone couldn't save Georgetown or its 29-game winning streak. The Hoyas, behind by as many as 18 points in the second half, fought back with their best weapon: their bothersome, pressure defense. As always, that defense put Georgetown in position to win. But the top-ranked Hoyas missed a possible seven out of eight free throws--including six straight--during a stretch in the final six minutes and lost their first game of the season, 66-65, to third-ranked St.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. issued an apology Monday night for a photo and captions on his Instagram account ridiculing Oscar De La Hoya's time in a treatment facility. “It's unfortunate that a stupid picture was posted to my Instagram account earlier today that was not posted by me or authorized by me to post,” Mayweather said in the statement e-mailed to reporters by his publicist's firm. Above a photo of a distraught-appearing De La Hoya, the headline “MEANWHILE IN REHAB” is followed by words below the photo that say, “OSCAR: I gave Canelo the wrong blueprint I was high.” Mayweather has previously ripped De La Hoya's lifestyle, and has chided his former rival's ability to craft a blueprint to beat Mayweather for his Golden Boy Promotions fighters, including Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who was outclassed Saturday night in a majority decision victory by Mayweather in Las Vegas.

Even when he's playing poorly, Reggie Williams is the man 10th-ranked Georgetown turns to with the game on the line. Williams hit a three-point field goal with three seconds remaining Wednesday night at Landover, Md., to give the Hoyas a 62-59 victory over American University. Before his game-winning 22-foot jumper, Williams had missed 10 of 15 shots. "Reggie didn't play the greatest game in the world, but he made the shot when he needed to," Georgetown Coach John Thompson said.

For the first time all night, Chris Mullin was free. He had done his bit in the postgame interview area, and now the St. John's All-American was leading his teammates on a fast break to the team bus. Some writers were waiting for him in the parking lot, but Mullin went out the backdoor and onto the bus. Sorry, he said. Maybe he simply couldn't handle the thought of being surrounded any longer, even by some undersized sportswriters.

Top-ranked Georgetown, despite getting only 18 minutes of playing time from All-America center Patrick Ewing because of foul trouble, defeated second-ranked St. John's, 92-80, Saturday night to win the Big East Conference tournament title for the fourth time in six years. The defending NCAA champion Hoyas (30-2) will carry a 12-game winning streak into the NCAA playoffs next week. The Redmen (27-3), regular-season Big East winners, were beaten for the second time by the Hoyas in 10 days.

As both No. 1 St. John's and No. 2 Georgetown are Catholic universities, neither could claim that God was on its side Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. The Redmen did, however, have the entire city of New York behind them, which they figured would be more useful in their anticipated street brawl against the Hoyas from Washington, D.C. But the Hoyas had Patrick Ewing. It was no contest.

It was the off day and a time for fence-mending and wondering how in the world anyone--especially Villanova--could hope to beat Georgetown. There are, it turns out, some reasons to believe: --Villanova is a hot team. --Villanova has played Georgetown well twice this season, once taking the Hoyas into overtime. --Nobody does encores anymore. --If North Carolina State, why not Villanova? The last point is the most compelling.

UCLA tonight VS. GEORGETOWN When: 5 PST. Where: Barclays Center, New York. On the air: TV: ESPN2; Radio: 570. Records: Bruins 3-0, Hoyas 2-0. Update: You can bet TV personality Dick Vitale will use the phrase "diaper dandy" a few times when describing UCLA, especially since it is Shabazz Muhammad's college debut. Freshman D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera leads Georgetown with 15.0 points per game. Last season, the Hoyas were 24-9 overall, advancing to the third round of the NCAA tournament.

Oscar De La Hoya, in keeping with his routine of picking a string of Golden Boy Promotions fighters who've taken on Floyd Mayweather Jr., has predicted Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will knock Mayweather out Saturday sometime around the eighth round. Mayweather, amplifying the disdain he has displayed toward the boxer with whom he created the richest pay-per-view bout in the sport's history in 2007, has answered back in a personal way. In a discussion with The Times late last month touching on many topics, Mayweather Jr. (44-0)

It is time for Oscar De La Hoya's two-year checkup. Not the medical kind, the public kind. It was two years ago this week that boxing's Golden Boy suffered through the longest 18 holes of his life. Golf wasn't the problem. Hooked drives and missed putts weren't the source of his agony. Full disclosure was. He was telling all. The Golden Boy was tarnished. His image was a fraud. He was an alcoholic. His disease led to his disrupting lives, messing up his family, making other people cover and alibi for him. "I could manipulate you, man," he says now. "I was good at it. " He had hit rock bottom.

In the world of succulents, the hundreds of species and cultivars of the hoya genus stand out. They are in the milkweed family, second only to orchids in the diversity of their flower forms and shapes. Lowland tropicals, hoyas are native to Southeast Asia, densely vining beneath the canopy in the rain forests of New Guinea. Cultivated by enthusiasts for hundreds of years, some of the most exotic hoyas come from the wilds of the Philippines. And yet you will find avid hoya collectors as far off as Sweden.

Whether it leads to one of boxing's great careers remains a point of intrigue, but the boldness Saul "Canelo" Alvarez carries into the ring is something the sport doesn't often witness from a 22-year-old. "It speaks volumes that at 22 - this fighter who is Mexico's favorite champion and boxing's next superstar - he wants to fight the very best out there," Alvarez's promoter and mentor Oscar De La Hoya said. Alvarez (41-0-1, 30 knockouts) won the World Boxing Council super-welterweight title in March 2011, and he'll defend his belt for the sixth time Saturday night against World Boxing Assn.

Hector “Macho” Camacho, a former three-division boxing champion who had 88 professional fights against a who's who of legendary opponents stretching from Ray Mancini (whom he defeated in 1989) to Oscar De La Hoya (who beat him by decision in 1997), has died. He was 50. Camacho was pronounced dead Saturday after being shot in the head four days earlier while seated in a car outside a bar in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. He was taken off of life support after undergoing cardiac arrest early Saturday, Dr. Ernesto Torres, director of the Centro Medico trauma center in Puerto Rico, told the Associated Press.

UCLA tonight VS. GEORGETOWN When: 5 PST. Where: Barclays Center, New York. On the air: TV: ESPN2; Radio: 570. Records: Bruins 3-0, Hoyas 2-0. Update: You can bet TV personality Dick Vitale will use the phrase "diaper dandy" a few times when describing UCLA, especially since it is Shabazz Muhammad's college debut. Freshman D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera leads Georgetown with 15.0 points per game. Last season, the Hoyas were 24-9 overall, advancing to the third round of the NCAA tournament.

— The Princeton offense might not fit well for the Lakers, or so it seemed under ousted coach Mike Brown , but it has worked just fine at Georgetown. The Hoyas (2-0), who face No. 13 UCLA (3-0) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Monday as part of the Legends Classic tournament, have long used the system predicated on precision passing and backdoor cuts. "It puts pressure on the defense from many different angles and you have many different options on how to score," Coach John Thompson III said in a conference call last week.

Boston College was unbeaten, unranked and vastly underrated. That will all change. The Eagles threw a scare into definding national champion and top-ranked Georgetown Saturday before losing, 82-80, in overtime of a Big East Conference game. "They said we were 16-point underdogs," Boston College guard Dominic Pressley said. "I don't believe it, and I don't think anyone else does who watched this game. "It was a war out there, and we matched them point-for-point and elbow-for-elbow to the finish."

NEW YORK - His first shot, of the stop-and-pop variety, arced over the outstretched fingertips of defenders invading his personal space, and then splashed through the Brooklyn net. The scoreboard added a pair to UCLA's total, and freshman Shabazz Muhammad ran back to play defense, having finally tallied the first points of his college career. But his long-awaited debut Monday - delayed three games because the NCAA sat him out for violating its rules before it reinstated him Friday - didn't end in storybook fashion.

— The Princeton offense might not fit well for the Lakers, or so it seemed under ousted coach Mike Brown , but it has worked just fine at Georgetown. The Hoyas (2-0), who face No. 13 UCLA (3-0) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Monday as part of the Legends Classic tournament, have long used the system predicated on precision passing and backdoor cuts. "It puts pressure on the defense from many different angles and you have many different options on how to score," Coach John Thompson III said in a conference call last week.